Chapter 7

The past two days had been a whirlwind.

I was busy handling Emily's school transfer and teaching myself a new programming language, so when Natasha's call came in, it hit me that three days had already passed since the divorce.

I didn't pick up right away. I let the phone ring ten times before answering. "Hello?"

Natasha's voice came through, sharp and impatient. "Sarah, why did it take you so long to answer?"

I kept my tone flat. "What do you want?"

"What kind of attitude is that? You and David may be divorced, but I'm still Emily's grandmother!"

I hung up on her. The only reason I'd answered at all was to hear the good news about David's stroke. She really thought she still mattered. Please.

The phone rang again almost immediately.

I ignored it.

Wendy's voice carried in from the living room. "Sarah, who keeps calling? Why aren't you picking up?"

I answered the phone again and didn't bother hiding my irritation. "Say what you need to say."

"Sarah!" The voice on the other end was familiar, but the words came out slurred and broken.

I knew it was David, but I played dumb. "Who is this?"

Natasha took the phone back. "David, let me handle this."

Her voice turned pleading. "Sarah, you heard him. David is sick. He had a stroke, and he's in the hospital. The doctors say it's serious, and he's going to need someone to take care of him long-term.

"You two were husband and wife. Just come see him. That divorce agreement was just a formality. David never actually wanted to divorce you.

"Nobody expected you to take it so seriously and just leave like that. David was so busy with work, he didn't even get the chance to stop you.

"We're still family, Sarah. Come home. Please, sweetheart."

By the end, Natasha had broken down into sobs.

I said, "Oh, then hire a caregiver! I'm busy too, and I don't have time to go see him!

"And stop calling it a fake divorce or saying it was just a formality. I'll send you a photo, and you can see for yourselves. Why don't you let his new girlfriend take care of him?"

I hung up the phone and sent them the photo I had taken outside the Courthouse.

Finally, some peace and quiet.

I scrolled through job listings on a recruiting website. I needed to get back to work as soon as possible, because my parents and my kid were all counting on me.

I had been out of the workforce for six years. After college, I had only worked for 2 years before quitting, and most of what I had learned had faded by then.

I would have to start from the bottom, so I decided to apply for positions in the AI robotics industry since it was still an emerging field.

David's company, CoreTech Group, had an opening for an AI testing engineer, and it caught my eye. But I refused to work at the same company as him, so I skipped it without a second thought.

Another company, BrightLogic Technologies, was much smaller, with only thirty employees. I decided to go with this one, hoping that a smaller company might have lower expectations.

*****

Two days later, I got a call for an interview.

The waiting room was packed with young candidates. I was the oldest one there. I had put on light makeup, but it still couldn't hide the fine lines around my eyes.

I sat in the waiting area, my nerves building with every minute. Half an hour later, it was finally my turn.

The interviewer across from me looked to be in his early thirties, with sharp features and dark, searching eyes.

He glanced down at my resume and said, "Sarah, thirty years old, two years of experience in programming, but you've been out of work for six years. Can you tell me why?"

The HR assistant beside him spoke up, saying, "This is Mr. Felix Vaughn, the founder of our company."

He was too young to be running his own company. It wasn't a big operation, but it was growing fast. I couldn't help but take a closer look at him.

I sat up a little straighter and said, "Mr. Vaughn, I left my previous job for personal reasons."

Felix leaned forward and asked, "Was it because of marriage and kids?"

I nodded.

He continued, "So what made you decide to come back to work now?"

"My child is older now," I said, "and I got divorced."

Felix paused for a moment and said, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. I noticed you graduated from a top university. It's really a shame that you've been away from work for so long."

He quickly added, "I don't mean any disrespect to stay-at-home moms. I just personally believe that someone like you could create more value by being in the workforce."

I nodded and said, "I understand what you mean."

Felix closed my file and said, "All right, we'll review everything and our HR team will reach out to you with the result. Thank you for choosing our company."

I stood up, gave him a polite nod, and walked out.